Chapter 343 — Visitors from Beyond the Heavens, Sentiments Like Poetry
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 4
"Young Master, what is it? " "My master and the others have descended to the mortal realm. " Xu Shenghua said in surprise, "So many divine beings descending — could something have happened in the Heavens Above?
" The old Tathagata smiled.
"Young Master Xu, they're flaring their auras as if challenging someone.
It shouldn't be that something has happened in the Heavens Above. " Xu Shenghua mused, "Challenging someone?
Then that person could only be a master like the old Human Emperor or the Imperial Teacher of Jingping.
Though the Imperial Teacher of Jingping is called the first under the gods, he doesn't yet have the qualifications — so it can only be the old Human Emperor.
Qingyou Shanren, I have imposed on you for many days and received your hospitality. Xu takes his leave.
" Qingyou Shanren urged him to stay. "Young Master Xu, won't you stay a few more days?
Our Little Jade Capital may not compare to your Heavens Above, but it is a rare place of quiet elegance. " Xu Shenghua said, "These days I have seen Little Jade Capital's peerless arts, which opened my eyes and benefited me greatly. But my honored master has come to challenge the Human Emperor; I cannot stay away. " Qingyou Shanren did not press him further. Xu Shenghua hurried down the mountain with Jing Yan, Yu Liu, and the other two women.
They came to a painted pleasure boat and boarded it; the boat glided through air smooth as a water mirror, raising ripples in its wake as it sailed into the distance. Once it left Little Jade Capital, the mirror-like sky vanished and the ripples disappeared, becoming the true sky.
The painted boat sailed through the sky, gradually receding. Zaifu shot the blind old man a look. The blind old man laughed.
"You can throw all the looks you like — I can't see them.
I'm a blind man. Brother Qingyou, old Daoist, White-Browed Monk, we two brothers will be heading down the mountain as well. " Qingyou Shanren said hastily, "You two brothers are both men who have attained the Dao. Why not stay in Little Jade Capital? The mortal world is foul and turbid — why go wading into muddy waters?
" Zaifu shook his butchering knife; the blade swelled in the wind until it was the size of a door plank, and he slung it over his shoulder.
He laughed. "I'm a pig slaughterer. Would you let me open a butcher shop here?
If I can't sell meat and earn money, am I to drink the northwest wind? " Qingyou Shanren's expression stiffened.
He was about to urge them again when the blind old man cupped his hands and said, "A garden full of spring cannot be shut in; when we meet, what need to have known each other before? A single moment of a spring night is worth a thousand gold! Brother Qingyou, no need to see us off!
" Qingyou Shanren was dazed, pondering what those three lines of verse actually meant, when Zaifu and the blind old man had already walked out of Little Jade Capital. Zaifu's voice came from the mirror sky. "Blind old man, the first line of your poem just now meant that we're leaving, right?
So the spring cannot be shut in, Little Jade Capital cannot keep us. The second line should be polite talk — that we met by chance, chatted about wind and flowers and snow, spoke of Daoist arts and divine powers, and made friends.
The third line is remarkable — it says we have urgent business and must leave as quickly as possible, so a single moment is worth a thousand gold. Am I right? " The blind old man's smug voice came back. "Old Tu, you really are my true friend! That's exactly what my three lines mean. That fellow Kui Sou is always saying I'm a sentimental fool, but what does he know of my talent? " Zaifu was full of admiration.
"You really are more and more talented. Your feelings are like poetry — you had Qingyou Shanren completely flummoxed! The old Daoist and the great monk were struck dumb too!
" . . .
Qingyou Shanren was dumbstruck; the old Daoist Master and the old Tathagata were also frozen like wooden chickens.